My name is John and this is my writing journal. All the ups, downs and who knows what of it all.

The Magic of the Blank Page.

After being quite worried that I wouldn’t be able to find an idea for my first short story of 2016, I decided to just stare at a blank page. Will I get inspiration? Will I go blind? Will I learn to hate the non-colour of ‘white’?

None of the above. It just so happens that the blank page helped me to come up with my idea. I have tried to go into the exact science of it all but I’m not smart enough and I don’t like it when my brain hurts so I’m settling on this.

The blank page is made of magic.

I can only assume the blank page has always had magical powers. Probably stemming from when it was first created whoever knows when. It somehow has the muscle to either make you start writing a story or mess with your head to the point where a simple white page could drive you insane.

I glared at the mass of white in front of me and the story sprung to mind. Just like that. No problem. My story revolves around the hero Daniel who decides to leave for work ten minutes earlier than usual. Sounds boring doesn’t it? Well, I used that question as a challenge and it has propelled my story. ‘How can ten minutes make such a difference?’ Has already pushed Daniel to sleep with the neighbor, feel sorry for her ‘boyfriend’ (or, at least, that’s what he thinks he is), call in sick for work and to help an old man with his shopping. And all within the first two hours of his waking day. I’m going to build the stories up throughout his day but my sci-fi & fantasy writing nature is screaming for me to make this become a world-saving thing. Or not. Or do I just keep it to Daniel’s world and not involve anyone else?

Or do I go a completely new direction? One I’ve never written before?

All in all, it’s a pretty cool set of solutions to consider to a few problems I’m having with my story. This time, last week I was afraid I would not be able to write anything brand new. Now, I’m close to finishing it. Well, a bit closer. I’m not sure what my word count should be.

Before I get back to my story, I would like to thank the many members of the wonderful and very useful writers group ‘Kboards Fantasy Author’s Group’ through Facebook. Those who replied to my question have provided some valuable feedback and ideas. Thank You.

6 thoughts on “The Magic of the Blank Page.”

Thanks Steven! I have written short fiction many times before but if I’m going to write a few stories a month, I have to be prolific with my ideas. I usually spend time mapping the idea behind the story so it’s a bit of change for me. How about you? Do you write many short fiction stories?

I wouldn’t say I am a huge short story writer though I do enjoy being able to finish something quickly, most my writing is novel length. One last question, what made you want to try out discovery writing since you said you usually outline?

I’ve wanted to increase my output and try to produce more stories for a while. Then I saw a quote from Bradbury saying to write one story a week for a year as they all can’t be rubbish so I decided to try that. If not each week every few weeks and it will get my creative juices flowing after taking a break following nanowrimo. And it’s a nice change of pace.

That sounds awesome, I am a strong believer in writing everyday (or almost everyday). It helps me practice so I can get better at storytelling. Sometimes (most of the time) my stories/scenes are crap, but after revision and getting feedback, I have a few that I end up really liking.